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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27071443">home again, home again</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustgirl/pseuds/stardustgirl'>stardustgirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>i’m a fool with a curse and a crush (he’s a teenager in love) [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(at least. its implied that he does.), (well its implied she does), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Azula (Avatar) Gets a Hug, Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Breaking Generational Trauma, Childhood Trauma, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gaang (Avatar) as Family, Gen, Good Sibling Zuko (Avatar), Heavy Angst, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Prompt Fill, Protective Siblings, Protective Zuko (Avatar), Suicide Attempt, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, Zuko (Avatar) Angst, Zuko (Avatar) Gets a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) whump, also did i write this bc i wanted Something Soft? yeah, bc thats my mood w this, did i write this bc im having feelings abt college again? yes, only at the end re fluff but, sibling moments slap ok? ok., thats it send tweet, whats that quote abt like. we deserve a soft epilogue or smth thats from a stucky fic, zuko and azula deserve a soft family they made themselves out of their friends and iroh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:29:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>489</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27071443</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustgirl/pseuds/stardustgirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Are you leaving?”</p><p>She doesn’t need to remind him who else left like this.</p><p>“Maybe,” he says, looking at the half-filled duffel on his bed rather than her.  “Yeah.”</p><p>(Or; Zuko, families, and safety.)</p><p>(Prompt fill for "Extreme Weather" and "Don't Say Goodbye" for Whumptober, and for "A Slice of Sibling Love" for Gen and Aro Prompts.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Azula &amp; Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>i’m a fool with a curse and a crush (he’s a teenager in love) [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833397</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>264</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Gen and Aro Prompts (Any fandom), Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>home again, home again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">



        <li>In response to a prompt by
            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteriousSunshine/pseuds/MysteriousSunshine">MysteriousSunshine</a>  in the  <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/GenAndAroPrompts">GenAndAroPrompts</a>
          collection.
        </li>
    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A Slice of Sibling Love: "Siblings aren't the easiest to get along with sometimes, but they're always there when you need them. Write a story of a fluffy little moment between siblings."</p><p>General Heads Up: this isn't really canon with the rest of the series but it just vibes the same so ,, it's here (maybe it's a potential end to the series? but at the moment it's not rip)</p><p>TW: Referenced Suicide Attempt/Suicidal Thoughts, Referenced Child Abuse</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Zuko leaves, he is eighteen.</p><p>He hides it from his sister; his father won’t care.  And then Father mentions it in a fight and Azula looks at him with those unbroken-unbent-unharmed-sixteen-year-old eyes that tell him she will stop by later.</p><p>She does, rapping softly on the wood of his doorframe—Father removed the actual door for “insolence” a few months back and Zuko’s yet to track down new screws—and poking her head in.  “Zuko?” she breathes, eyes wide and scared and holding a look that is so familiar he feels himself crack.</p><p>“Hi,” he answers, softly, once he gets his thoughts back together with duct tape and superglue that disintegrate faster than he can speak.</p><p>“Are you leaving?”</p><p>She doesn’t need to remind him who else left like this.</p><p>“Maybe,” he says, looking at the half-filled duffel on his bed rather than her.  “Yeah.”</p><p>“Where...how long will you be gone?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” he answers, the emptiness reverberating in his bones.  <em> Forever </em>is what he wants to say.</p><p>But he can’t tell Azula that.</p><p>“What about me?”</p><p>He <em> does </em>look up at that.  Azula takes a step into his room, eyes filled with a quiet terror like they were that night lightning struck a tree close by.  He doesn’t want to be her thunder.</p><p>“I’ll bring you with me, too, if that’s what you want.  I’ll do it...I’ll do it later.”</p><p>Her eyes soften, filling with light.  “Please,” she whispers, nodding.  “Please.  Just...don’t say goodbye.  Make it ‘see you later.’”</p><p>“Let me find a place for us first, okay?  And then if...if you can’t get emancipated, I’ll just wait for you.  Alright?”</p><p>She nods, and he smiles for the first time in months.</p><p>(Zuko leaves that night.)</p>
<hr/><p>There is no missing persons report filed for him.  He wasn’t sure if Father would do one or not, and he’s glad he didn’t.</p><p>Zuko finds his place, finds it with the help of those who have helped him to make his own family.  This one is not built on money, or on deceit, or on shards of glass and the urge to swallow too many pills each night in the aftermath of barbs and blows.</p><p>This house, this <em> family, </em>is built on love.</p>
<hr/><p>When Zuko returns, he is twenty.</p><p>Sokka and Suki and Katara and Aang and Toph go with him when he goes back.  He knocks on the door, and Azula answers it, a bag already in hand.</p><p>“Ready?” he asks.</p><p>She nods, and her now-eighteen-year-old eyes are wide with <em> relief, </em> now.</p><p>“Please.”</p><p>(Father files a missing persons report for <em> her, </em> but she makes it clear that she is okay without his mockery of love, and Father’s lawyers can only do so much.)</p><p>(Uncle Iroh, however, is sent their address, and Zuko thinks that maybe not <em> all </em>of his blood family is horrible.)</p><p>(After all, some make good sisters, and some make good tea.)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i know the rest of this series is like. a song lyric for the title. but idc oop.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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